Blankenship, Weise maintain leads in commission races

RITZVILLE — Dan Blankenship and Jay Weise have maintained their leads in the race for two open positions on the Adams County Commission in updated vote totals released Friday.

Blankenship, of Ritzville, leads incumbent John Marshall, also of Ritzville, in the race for Position No. 1, with 3,026 votes to 1,640 votes. Blankenship has about 64% of the vote.

Weise and Ken Johnson, both of Othello, competed for Position No. 2. Weise has 3,459 votes to 1,253 votes for Johnson, with Weise earning about 72% of the vote.

Position No. 2 was an open seat; incumbent Roger Hartwig didn’t file for reelection.

The next vote count is Thursday, with the election certified on Nov. 24. About 400 ballots remain to be counted, according to the Adams County Auditor’s website. And, about 66.5% of registered voters in Adams County turned in ballots.

Mark Schoesler, of Ritzville, has a comfortable lead in the race for the Ninth District seat in the Washington Senate. In Adams County, Schoesler has 3,645 votes, about 72% of the total, to 1,229 for challenger Jenn Goulet, of Pasco. Throughout the entire Ninth District, Schoesler has 41,110 votes (65.9%) to 20,898 (33.5%) for Goulet.

In the race for Washington House of Representatives, Position No. 1, incumbent Mary Dye, of Pomeroy, has a commanding lead over challenger Brett Borden, of Pullman. In Adams County, Dye has 3,901 votes, about 80.1%, to 946 for Borden, about 19.5%. In the Ninth District as a whole, Dye has 45,508 votes (74.8%) to 14,676 votes for Borden (24%).

Additionally, Warden School District voters are approving a two-year educational programs and operations levy. The levy has 600 ‘yes’ votes, 62%, to 368 ‘no’ votes, 38%.

Because it was a school levy, the proposal required a bare majority, 50% plus one vote, to pass.